Bolivia's oil revenue to reach 2.2 billion USD

Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-14 12:29:26|Editor: ZX

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LA PAZ, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia's oil revenue this year is estimated to reach 2.2 billion U.S. dollars as it "will be able to fulfill" contracts with its southern American partners, Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy Luis Alberto Sanchez said Saturday.

"The income to the country is guaranteed," Sanchez said. "We should feel certain about the expected income from the export of gas because we will be able to fulfill the contracts with Argentina until 2026 and with Brazil for the remaining volume to be delivered and an extension of the contract until 2024."

Bolivia is negotiating an increase in gas sales in western Brazil, the minister said, adding that it is negotiating with new markets that will generate greater benefits through direct sale of natural gas to several Brazilian states.

"This is good for us because it opens up the Brazilian market. The country has all the right conditions to take on these new contracts and at better prices," he said.

Bolivia is working on the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by way of the Peruvian port of Ilo on the Pacific coast, the government confirmed Saturday.

The deal with Paraguay is under negotiation to supply gas to the Chaco region, a sparsely inhabited area, both at the household level and for the generation of electricity, according to Humberto Salinas, vice minister of Industrialization, Commercialization, Transportation and Hydrocarbon Storage.

"We will be exporting to Paraguay and we will end up opening new overseas markets with the liquified natural gas," Salinas said.

Bolivia is a major exporter of LNG in South America, with 99 percent of the exports going to Paraguay and Peru, the vice minister said, adding that it hopes to add Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil to the list of export destinations.

Between 1985 and 2005, Bolivia earned 4.587 billion dollars in oil revenue, at an average of 225 million dollars a year. From 2006 to 2015, the total reached 31.573 billion dollars, with a yearly peak of 5.489 billion dollars in 2014.

Bolivia's GDP growth declined from a peak since the 1970s of 6.8 percent in 2013 to an estimated 4.2 percent in 2017 due to a less favorable international environment and a temporary reduction in the external gas demand, according to the World Bank.